UNIVERSITY   OF  CALIFORNIA  AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATION 

COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE  BENJ.  |DE  Wheeler,  President 

BERKELEY,    CALIFORNIA  Thomas  Forsyth  Hunt,  Dean  and  Director 


CIRCULAR  No.  95. 


DETECTING  DAIRY  LOSSES. 

By  L.  M.  Davis. 

A  conservative  estimate  of  the  butterfat  production  of  the  average 
dairy  cow  in  California  would  place  the  amount  at  about  150  pounds, 
but  calculations  made  from  statistics  for  1912,  which  are  available, 
show  that  the  production  is  still  lower  than  this,  being  nearer  125 
pounds.  Under  prevailing  conditions  in  California  no  dairyman  can 
afford  to  feed  and  care  for  those  cows  whose  records  approach  such  a 
mark  as  either  of  these  and  even  where  cheap  pastures  are  available 
there  is  a  limit  below  which  a  cow  does  not  pay  for  her  keep.  For  the 
year  ending  March  1,  1913,  the  average  price  paid  for  butterfat  in 
California,  if  based  upon  a  two  cent  margin,  San  Francisco  quotations, 
was  thirty- three  (33)  cents,  and  during  the  same  time  the  price  of 
alfalfa  hay  hovered  around  the  $12  mark.  If  an  ordinary  cow  is  fed 
alfalfa  alone,  which  is  common  though  probably  not  the  best  practice, 
she  will  consume  annually  an  amount  near  to  five  tons,  and  there  will 
be  other  additional  expense  in  the  nature  of  labor  to  milk  and  care  for 
her.  Using  the  two  sets  of  figures  mentioned,  those  relating  to  ex- 
pense and  those  relating  to  profit,  a  pencil  and  paper  will  quickly 
show  that  there  must  be  a  great  number  of  cows  in  this  State  which 
are  a  dead  expense  to  their  owners.  How  many  dairymen  know 
whether  or  not  they  have  cows  which  are  in  this  class  ? 

Profitable  dairying  is  an  established  possibility.  Regardless  of  the 
low  average  production  cited,  this  condition  is  not  a  problem  incapable 
of  being  solved,  as  facts  and  figures  even  here  in  California  have  al- 
ready shown.  The  solution  lies  through  the  use  of  milk  scales  and 
the  Babcock  test.  Periodic  and  systematic  herd  testing  is  the  means 
of  turning  loss  into  profit,  and  is  a  matter  deserving  of  the  attention 
of  dairymen,  for  it  forms  the  true  basis  from  which  the  cow's  actual 
performance  may  be  determined.  High  cost  of  production  demands 
economy,  and  dairymen  are  compelled  to  eliminate  from  their  herds 
the  poor  producers. 

Many  dairymen  own  Babcock  testers,  but  too  few  use  them.  The 
value  of  the  test  is  lost  unless  regularly  made.  Where  dairymen  find 
it  impossible  to  make  periodic  and  regular  tests,  one  of  the  most  satis- 
factory means  of  conducting  the  same  is  through  the  form  of  a  cow 
testing  association.  The  nature  of  these  associations  is  co-operative, 
each  dairyman  paying  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  cows  owned. 
In  the  Ferndale  Association  the  cost  per  year  is  eighty  cents   (80#) 

(1) 


—  2  — 

for  each  cow  in  herds  of  fifty  or  more,  and  one  dollar  ($1.00)  in 
smaller  herds.  The  present  year  this  association  has  2,600  cows  under 
test,  and  two  testers  are  maintained.  In  the  Stanislaus  Association 
the  cost  is  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  ($1.50)  per  cow,  and  in  the  Tulare 
Association  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  ($1.25)  per  cow.  These 
amounts  vary  according  to  the  number  of  cows  entered,  and  in  no  case 
are  they  prohibitive  when  the  value  received  is  considered.  The  re- 
sults in  one  herd,  which  has  been  tested  regularly  for  three  years,  show 
that  the  average  butter  fat  production  was  256  pounds  for  the  first 
year,  290  pounds  for  the  second  year,  and  335  pounds  for  the  third 
year.  While  the  first  year's  average  is  higher  than  the  annual  pro- 
duction of  the  common  dairy  cow  in  the  State,  the  great  increase  dur- 
ing the  two  succeeding  years  simply  serves  to  show  the  possibilities 
through  periodic  testing  for  butter  fat  production. 

In  testing  dairy  herds  for  annual  butter  fat  yield,  system  and  regu- 
larity are  essential  points.  The  plan  of  testing  an  evening  and  morn- 
ing milking  once  each  month  has  been  found  very  satisfactory,  as  this 
gives  a  close  estimate  of  a  cow's  ability  if  carried  on  regularly 
throughout  an  entire  year.  When  testing  periods  occur  at  regular  in- 
tervals, the  figures  thus  obtained  can  be  used  to  estimate  the  yield  for 
the  month,  or  for  the  fifteen  days  before  and  after  test  day.  In  the 
association  the  tester  visits  each  dairy  once  each  month.  The  milk  of 
each  individual  cow  is  weighed  night  and  morning,  a  composite  sample 
taken,  and  a  test  for  butter  fat  made.  Owners  of  cows  are  provided 
with  record  sheets  for  each  cow,  and  on  these  the  tester  enters  the 
monthly  calculations,  making  it  an  easy  matter  for  the  dairyman  to 
pick  out  the  unprofitable  producers.  Procedure,  such  as  this,  elimi- 
nates guesswork,  and  puts  the  whole  matter  on  a  logical  basis.  Every 
dairyman  could  test  his  own  cows,  but  too  often  he  fails  to  do  this, 
and  it  is  for  such  a  reason  that  a  co-operative  movement  proves  its 
value.  Where  it  is  impossible  to  maintain  a  community  enterprise, 
individual  owners  must  take  the  work  upon  themselves,  for  through 
the  use  of  milk  scales  and  the  Babcock  test  lies  the  true  means  of  de- 
termining a  dairy  cow's  worth.  In  these  days,  when  the  cost  of  feed 
is  universally  high,  cows  must  deliver  the  goods. 


